PALABRAS: Carolina De Robertis, Author of 'The Invisible Mountain,' Discusses Her Unique Immigrant Experience

This article is part of Palabras, the Latin Post Latino Author Series.

Carolina De Robertis' voracious love of books and her intricate immigrant experience are two aspects of her childhood that has marked her forever as a writer.

England, Switzerland and the United States are all embedded, because they were home to her during formidable years, but none of those countries are her parents' nation of origin, Uruguay. For that reason, her sense of self has always been unified with a sense of longing, of curiosity, of distance and inherited memory. And it plays into her sense of being an outsider and an insider; her search for roots; and her questions regarding the nature of home. Her obsession with discovery and breakthrough has pushed her pen toward structured writing.

Her first novel, "The Invisible Mountain," is a sweeping multigenerational portrait of 20th century Uruguay through the eyes of women. "Perla" captures the life of a young woman in Argentina who discovers the ghost of a desaparecido in her home, and she's forced to confront her own link to that suppressed history. And "The Gods of Tango," due out July 2015, is a work about a young Italian woman who, in 1913, immigrates to Buenos Aires. She risks everything to pursue a forbidden life in the underworld of early tango musicians. She cross-dresses, takes up the violin, and discovers her attraction to women.

"Perla," "The Invisible Mountain" and "The Gods of Tango" are fictional fragments of who Robertis is as a writer. Her attraction to exploring the histories of silenced, forgotten or marginalized voices is rooted in a need to offer unserved communities a place in literature. This is why she's chosen to dedicate her life to creating stories that have been kept private, but will resonate with the public.

Her writing aligns with the efforts of authors like Toni Morrison, who champions the unsung achievements of the unsung African American population. Morrison's work and the work of many others have encouraged her to tell the story of South Americans. And it's encouraged her to be braver, work harder and give all that she can.

"There are so many amazing Latino writers working in the United States today, I mean really spectacular giants of the pen: Junot Díaz, Achy Obejas, Francisco Goldman, Patricia Engel, Daniel Alarcón, Luis Alberto Urrea, Cristina García, Daisy Hernández -- and this is just to name a few," Robertis said during an interview with Latin Post. "The fact that they all write in English only points to the expanding definition of what it means to be Latino or Latin American. But it also must be said that these are not just marvelous Latino writers: they are marvelous writers, period. They belong to all of us, to everyone who reads. They belong to the whole literary landscape-and they make it vibrant, make it gleam."

Robertis' role as a writer is not a position that she takes lightly. She looks to icons of her industry and nods in respect, but she's also anxious to pave her own path with powerful forgotten histories and whispered tales. Even as her life changes, and she welomes new opportunities and adventures, she intends to make sure those stories remain a part her routine.

"Some writers get up and head right to their desks without speaking to anyone. Sounds lovely. I hazily remember doing that, years ago, before I was the mother of two. Now I have trained myself to be flexible. All writers should train themselves to be flexible, to let the structures hold you up but not constrain you," said Robertis. "Parent-writers all the more so! I write best in the morning, so once the kids are dropped off, whenever I can, I devote those first fresh hours to the page. Once I start, I can go for hours. I go until other duties call."

Three years ago, Robertis and her family moved to Montevideo for a year and a half. Her wife, Pamela Harris, received a Fulbright Fellowship to develop a documentary film about individuals of African descent in Uruguay. Agreeing to co-produce the project, Robertis and her wife collected 50+ hours of footage and followed members of the black community through moments of courage, activism, friendship, injustice, memory and personal transformation, creating the film, "Afro Uruguay: Forward Together." The post-production feature includes Afro Uruguayan stories, insights and photographs, and, much like her writing, it offers a perspective that hasn't been profoundly explored.

"I was floored and humbled by the tremendous trust placed in us by so many Afro-Uruguayan people who shared their stories, time, photographs, and insights with us," said Robertis. "Talk about marginalized voices: 8 percent of the Uruguayan population is black, and yet, as in so many of our Latin American nations, their voices all too often go unheard in the dominant culture. This, of course, is also highly relevant to Latinos living in the U.S.; we need our own honest dialogue about racial differences, realities, and biases within our Latino communities."

Robertis' upcoming, untitled book is set in Uruguay, and though the author couldn't share details about the project, one can expect that the book will raise the voice of marginalized communities and bring forth important dialogue.